Goddard, Come Home
by GaDS2000
Summary: Absorbed with creating a new pet to complete a class assignment Jimmy neglects Goddard with potentially disastrous consequences. (Rating changed to PG just in case.)
1. Part 1 Dog Day Afternoon

Goddard, Come Home

by Gary D. Snyder

Part 1:

"And so, class," Miss Fowl clucked in conclusion, "I expect all of you to have the reports on your pets ready to turn in next Friday." She looked about the class. "Any que-e-estions?"

Carl raised his hand timidly. "Umm…Miss Fowl?" he asked hesistantly. "If my pet was a llama, but it was from the mall instead of South America, and was covered in flannel instead of fur, and –"

"No plush toys," answered Miss Fowl firmly.

Sheen raised his hand hopefully.

"Or action figures," she glared.

Sheen looked defeated, but after a moment's thought he suddenly brightened and raised his hand again.

"Or dolls!" squawked Miss Fowl. "This has to be about a real pet that you have now or that you used to have. Nothing artificial or imaginary." She looked pointedly at Sheen. "Or delusional," she added.

"Too bad, Neutron," said Cindy in a tone that sounded like she didn't think it was bad at all.

"What's too bad?" Jimmy replied, genuinely puzzled.

Cindy sounded as though she were pointing out the obvious. "That you don't have a real pet, like Humphrey."

"What do you mean, I don't have a real pet?" demanded Jimmy. "Goddard is real, and he's a pet. What else would you call him?"

"Well, I'd call it - let's see now, what's the word?" Cindy squinted in mock concentration and then delivered the punch line. "Oh, right. A machine!"

Jimmy looked aghast. "He's not a machine. He's my dog!"

"I have to go with Cindy on this one," put in Libby. "I mean, Goddard is cool and all, and he's got a jamming sound system, but he's not really a pet like a real dog."

"He is so a pet!"

"He's an accessory!" countered Cindy.

"He is not," Jimmy objected. "He's not just some handy tool I keep around. Although he does come in handy."

"Oh, right," Cindy sneered. "In that case, why don't you write your report on some of your other pets as well? Like your watch, your lab computer, your nuclear reactor –"

That did it. "It's not the same thing!" he nearly shouted. "Goddard is state-of-the-art, with a heuristically-enhanced artificial intelligence neural network –"

"I rest my case," yawned Cindy. "Unlike Goddard, my pet Humphrey is an AKC-registered purebred Lhasa Smartso and universally acknowledged to be a real dog."

Jimmy gritted his teeth. "I'll bet," he challenged, "that you can't come up with any real difference between Goddard and Humphrey being pets."

Cindy looked thoughtful. "You know, Libs, Nerd-tron might actually have a point here about Humphrey and Goddard."

"How's that, Cindy?" asked Libby, playing along while Jimmy waited for the bomb to drop.

"Well, they both play dead…"

"Except that Humphrey doesn't leave a crater behind," Libby observed.

"And they can both roll over…" Cindy went on.

"Although Humphrey's body rolls over when his head does," deadpanned Libby.

"Oh, wait! There is a difference, Libby," said Cindy brightly.

"And what's that, Cindy?"

"Well, Humphrey has pedigree papers…" 

"And Goddard?" Libby prompted.

"Goddard has a warranty registration card!" concluded Cindy, bursting out in laughter with Libby.

"Oh, yuck it up, she of little faith," Jimmy grumped. "Goddard is a real dog, no matter what you say."

"Actually, Jimmy, I think it's what Miss Fowl says that matters," observed Carl.

"Good point, Wheezer," said Cindy. "Oh, Miss Fowl! Can we have a ruling on whether Jimmy's robot Goddard qualifies as a pet for this assignment?"

Miss Fowl looked uncomfortable for what seemed the millionth time since Jimmy and Cindy had come into her classroom. She cleared her throat. "Well, Jimmy," she said at last, "While I can understand how…er…attached you must be to Goddard…"

"Probably with rivet," muttered Cindy under her breath, causing Jimmy to scowl.

"…I have to agree that Goddard isn't really a dog or even a pet. To be a pet there has to be a relationship with the owner and you can't form that kind of relationship with a machine."

"But – " Jimmy started.

"I'm sorry Jimmy," Miss Fowl said firmly. "You'll have to find some other pet to write about."

As Jimmy slumped miserably in his chair Carl leaned over. "Hey, Jimmy," he whispered. "Did you want to borrow Swimmy for your report? I can write about Mr. Wuggles instead."

"No thanks, Carl," Jimmy answered dismally. "I can always find another pet to write about. But it won't be the same as Goddard."

"I'll take Swimmy," said Sheen. "Somehow I don't think that Miss Fowl will accept my Punching Plant as a pet and I don't think I have time to grow another one before next Friday."

Jimmy sat bolt upright. "That's it!" he exclaimed.

"What's it?" Sheen asked, startled.

"Grow another pet! Sheen! You're a genius!"

"I am?" Sheen sounded confused.

"Yes!" Jimmy went on excitedly. "Since no one will accept Goddard as a real pet, I'll make a real pet instead!"

Carl looked worried. "Is that a good idea, Jimmy?" he asked. "Remember the nanobots and the nanochip and Brobot and –" 

Jimmy smiled reassuringly. "Relax, Carl. This time, I'm sure that nothing can go wrong."

End of Part 1.


	2. Part 2 Pet Project

Goddard, Come Home

by Gary D. Snyder

Part 2:

After school let out for the day Carl and Sheen accompanied Jimmy back to his lab where Jimmy immediately set to work on his latest idea. Although Carl and Sheen had been in the lab numerous times and were familiar with most of the equipment there Jimmy busied himself with something neither had seen before. It looked something like a cross between an electric blender and mixer, with some features of a microwave oven and old-style radio set thrown in. Both Carl and Sheen watched in fascination as Jimmy fussed over the device.

"Hey, Jimmy, what's that you're messing with?" Sheen asked at last.

"The Gene Manipulator 2000," Jimmy answered without looking up from what he was doing. "It's the latest word in genetic sequencing, recombination, and splicing. With this, I can create the perfect pet from the genes up."

"Your pet is going to wear pants?" asked Carl, puzzled.

"No, Carl," Jimmy replied patiently as he paused to explain. "Inside every cell are special structures called genes. Each gene determines something about how the cell is going to develop. Some genes determine what type of organism the cells are going to turn into, like cats or dogs, while others determine something about them, like the color of their eyes or hair, and still others decide what the cell will be, like part of an arm or a leg. Genes determine everything about you. For example, it's because of some of your genes that you're a boy instead of a girl."

"Man, you'd better hang on to those, Carl," suggested Sheen. "It would be pretty embarrassing if you lost them and turned into a girl. Can you imagine how much it would cost to get a whole new wardrobe at this point?"

Despite Carl's look of alarm Jimmy decided that setting things right wasn't worth the time it would take to straighten things out. "I wouldn't worry about it, Carl," he said simply as he resumed his work. "Your jeans are pretty safe where they are."

Sheen moved in for a closer look "So what are you going to make, Jimmy? A Talosian magmar beast? An Argelian plasma leech? A Vegan brain sloth?"

"Stop it, Sheen!" screamed Carl, covering his ears. "Don't let Jimmy make any of those things!"

"Oh, please, Carl. Ultra Lord could take out all of those things with one disrupter tied behind his back."

"Ultra Lord isn't here," grumbled Carl.

"That's true," Sheen conceded. "Still…Jimmy could make a giant man-eating lima bean. We know how to beat those. And the last one was delicious."

"No more giant lima beans!"

"Guys, guys, hold it down," Jimmy called out impatiently. "I already know what I'm going to make."

"What?" asked Sheen and Carl simultaneously.

"I don't have a name for it yet," said Jimmy. "But I've gone over the pertinent data and have determined the most desirable characteristics to incorporate."

"And those are…?" Sheen inquired.

"First, it has to be small and cuddly," said Jimmy as he ticked off his fingers.

"Like Mr. Wuggles," agreed Carl.

"Second, it has to look, feel, sound, and smell pleasant."

"Yeah, I can see where that would be desirable," Sheen said thoughtfully.

"Third, it has to be good-tempered."

"Like Swimmy," said Carl.

"Fourth, it has to be intelligent."

"So it has to be a boy," offered Sheen, who then flinched and looked quickly around. "Oh, right. Libby isn't here."

"And finally, it has to grow fast."

"Why does it have to grow fast?" Carl asked.

"Because I need to have it fully grown before next Friday so I can finish my report," replied Jimmy. "So let's see…I think I have just about everything I need to begin. I have Mr. Wuggles' DNA pattern on file from when I was perfecting my Telepod so that should cover the small, cuddly, and pleasant aspects. Intelligence and disposition I can get from our human DNA. The only thing left is something for making it grow fast." Jimmy' eyes travelled thoughtfully around the lab and his face brightened as he caught sight of something on a plate on a nearby table. He dashed over and picked it up. "Aha! The perfect thing!"

Sheen looked skeptically. "A slice of leftover pizza? Is this thing supposed to taste pleasant as well?"

"Not the pizza, Sheen. This!" Jimmy removed one of the toppings and held it up. "Mushrooms! One of the fastest growing things known!"

Carl looked doubtful. "Do you want your pet to be part mushroom? Is that a good idea?"

"No, Carl. I just need the gene that stimulates rapid growth. I can isolate that and splice it in." He paused. "I think. In any case, there's only one way to find out."

"Well, gee, Jimmy, I dunno," Sheen put in. "Maybe Carl has a point. I can understand you using hamster DNA and human DNA to create some unnatural genetic abomination, but mushrooms are kind of creepy."  
"And I'm allergic," added Carl, his nose twitching.

"Carl's right, Jimmy. Think of all those monster movies with plants trying to take over the world. You might be creating a monster that could mean the end of civilization as we know it! For the love of humanity, stop and think what you're doing!" Sheen cried as he dropped to his knees in front of Jimmy and wrung his hands.

"There's nothing to worry about," Jimmy reassured Sheen.

"Oh. Well, then, I'm satisfied," said Sheen, standing up and dusting off the knees of his pants. "Let's make some monsters!"

Carl was not so easily convinced. "Why shouldn't we worry?" he wanted to know.

"Because during the gestation process the Gene Manipulator 2000 will be imprinting my brain wave pattern on the developing organism. In effect, my pet will have already bonded with me, the way ducklings bond with the first moving thing they see after they hatch and follow it without question." Jimmy shook his head. "There's no way this could create a monster."

"I suppose not," admitted Carl.

"No way," agreed Sheen. "Let's get started!"

Jimmy resumed his work, confident that everything was under control. What he and the others failed to appreciate at the time, however, was that sometimes the worst monsters were not created as monsters.

End of Part 1.


	3. Part 3 Goddard in the Doghouse

Goddard, Come Home

by Gary D. Snyder

Part 2:

About the time that Jimmy found the mushroom for his project Goddard roused himself in preparation for greeting Jimmy home from school. Although technically Goddard did not "sleep" in the way that most animals slept he did have a power conservation mode in which most of his higher motor and nerve functions were temporarily suspended. After reactivating his dormant systems Goddard ran a routine self-diagnostic and determined that it was time for periodic routine maintenance on his primary power system and so set about locating Jimmy to perform the task. After a quick scan revealed that only Jimmy's parents Hugh and Judy Neutron were in the house Goddard set out for Jimmy's lab in search of his master.

When Goddard arrived at the lab he noted that Jimmy's friends Carl and Sheen were there but as Jimmy was also present decided that no action to expel them from the restricted area was required. Jimmy himself was involved with manipulating the controls on some gadget that Goddard did not recognize, and as he did not understand its purpose determined that the maintenance on his power system was more important. He barked once to get Jimmy's attention.

"Not now, Goddard," Jimmy grunted. "I'm busy."

Patiently Goddard settled himself on the floor next to Jimmy, waiting for Jimmy to be free to attend to his needs. It was clear to Goddard and even to Carl and Sheen that whatever Jimmy was doing was very complicated, forcing Jimmy to work slowly and with great care. At last Jimmy held up a small glass dish in triumph.

"Done!" he said. Since Jimmy had announced he was finished Goddard barked again. Preoccupied with progress of his gene splicing Jimmy gave Goddard an impatient look. "What?" he demanded.

In response Goddard flipped up his front plate, revealing his video screen. On it were the words:

POWER SYSTEMS MAINTENANCE REQUIRED

Jimmy brushed the message aside as Goddard covered his video screen. "Later, Goddard. I've got other things to do now." Since Jimmy didn't say how much later it would be when he would attend to him Goddard settled back on the floor. Jimmy turned to his friends. "Well, here it is!" he proclaimed

"Is that your new pet?" asked Carl as he examined the contents of the small container. "It's awfully little."

Sheen peered at the dish. "Are you sure you just didn't sneeze in there, Jimmy?" he said at last.

Jimmy shook his head. "No guys. This is just the recombinant DNA for my new pet. I just need to put it into the incubator for a while."

"DNA?" Sheen looked alarmed. "Doesn't that explode if you heat it up?"

"You're thinking about TNT, Sheen. This is DNA."

Sheen looked relieved. "Oh, right. So that only explodes with, like, blasting caps and stuff, right?"

Jimmy looked pained. "DNA doesn't explode at all, Sheen. It stands for deoxyribonucleic acid."

"Acid?" Carl said fearfully.

"Don't worry, Carl," Jimmy reassured his friend. "We all have it. It's in every one of our cells – except for mature red blood cells, of course, as they have no nuclei."

"Oh." Carl looked thoughtful. "Well, maybe the acid explains why I get heartburn so often."

"It's not that kind of acid, Carl. This acid is the genetic material that makes up the genes I told you about."

"Oh, I get it," ventured Sheen. "Like acid-washed jeans, right?"

Jimmy decided to give up while he was at least partly ahead and mostly sane. "Not exactly. I'll try explaining it to you again later." _Much later_, he thought. "But for now we need to get this in the incubator so we can get the growth process started." He turned and started for the chamber, again absorbed in his plans. "I figure that we need to keep this at 37° C for exactly 17.3 hours before –"

So engrossed was he in his calculations that Jimmy totally overlooked the robotic dog lying unmoving and forgotten at his feet. Jimmy's musings were cut short as he stumbled over Goddard's still form and he fell forward. As Jimmy struggled to simultaneously maintain his balance and keep the precious glass dish from dropping to the hard lab floor he performed a frantic and somewhat comic juggling act. Had he attempted only to keep from falling or from dropping the dish he might have succeeded, as for an instant he managed to maneuver both his feet beneath him. The gods of physics, however, were apparently enraged that Jimmy had attempted to save both himself and his vessel. In terribly retribution they refused to let him succeed at either. Jimmy fell heavily to the ground and the glass dish flew from his hands, shattering into a thousand glittering shards and small drops of liquid.

"NOOOO!" Jimmy screamed, aghast.

For a moment Carl and Sheen stood petrified at the sight before Sheen leapt suddenly forward. "Five second rule!" he yelled, stooping to scoop the scattered fragments together with his hands.

"No Sheen! Don't touch it!" Jimmy called out painfully, and Sheen froze with his hands inches from the debris. "It's already contaminated. It's biohazardous waste and I'll have to dispose of it safely and decontaminate the lab. That will take about an hour, and then I'll have to start all over again from the start." Stiff and bruised from his fall Jimmy got to his feet and turned to look at the cause of the disaster. Aware that he had somehow done something wrong but unsure of what he had done Goddard hung his head and whimpered softly.

"He didn't mean it, Jimmy," offered Carl, who often found himself in Goddard's situation.

"It doesn't matter if he did or not," Jimmy replied tightly. "He should have known better." 

"Hey, calm down Jimmy," Sheen said, seeing the ugly change in Jimmy's face. "It'll be okay. It's just an experiment."

Jimmy didn't seem to be listening. All he could think of was the time that had been wasted and the extra time it would now take to fix the situation. As he dwelt on these dark thoughts the anger inside him built to a dangerous level, demanding an outlet. "Goddard," he said fiercely, as Goddard cowered. "Get out of here and stay away from me. Do you understand? I don't have time for you right now. I have work to do, so just – _leave – me – alone_!" And with that Jimmy stormed off to a locker of cleaning supplies and slammed the door open. Not knowing what else to do Carl and Sheen moved to help Jimmy.

Goddard cringed away from Jimmy and moved to comply with his instructions. Jimmy had told him to go, and despite his desire to remain he had no choice but to go. He had also been commanded to leave Jimmy alone, and so he would have to obey that as well. But Jimmy had not told Goddard how long to leave him alone. Without a specified time frame the directive was automatically added to the Goddard's list of standing instructions and would remain there until Jimmy himself cancelled it.

The lab door opened automatically at his approach to permit him to leave. Goddard paused briefly to look back once, as though hoping that Jimmy would countermand the order, and then moved through the opening. As the door slid silently shut behind him neither Jimmy nor the others saw him go.

End of Part 3.


	4. Part 4 The Morning After

Goddard, Come Home

by Gary D. Snyder

Part 4:

Class the next day seemed to last forever to Jimmy. He looked as though he had been recently exhumed and felt it, as cleaning up the lab, disposing of the spilt genetic material, preparing a new batch of recombinant DNA, and setting up the incubator had taken him almost until it was time to get up for school. Much of it he had been forced to do alone as most of the technical details were beyond Carl and Sheen and also because they had be called home for dinner by their parents. Jimmy couldn't wait for school to end as much because he badly needed sleep as because he wanted to check on the status of his latest project. These two driving desires had kept him from even noticing that Goddard had not been there when he had finally gone to bed the previous night nor when he got up that morning. After what seemed an eternity in Miss Fowl's class the lunch bell finally rang and Jimmy stumbled to the cafeteria with Carl and Sheen, yawning mightily as the three found empty seats to occupy.

"Late night in the lab, huh, Jimmy?" commented Carl.

Jimmy nodded, still yawning.

"I'm sorry I couldn't come back to help," Carl went on, fidgeting nervously. "After dinner my parents wanted to play 'Llamas Day Out' and I couldn't get out of it."

Sheen gave Carl a skeptical look. "You're kidding."

It was perhaps a credit to Carl's honesty that any challenge to one of his suspect statements invariably caused him to cave in. "All right, all right! I admit it! I wanted to play and promised I'd wash the dishes if they'd play with me!" He covered his face with his hands and sobbed. "It took me until bedtime to finish them. Are you happy now?" he blubbered.

Sheen considered it. "Moderately." He glanced over at Jimmy. "I guess Jimmy is, too. See? He's agreeing with me."

Carl wiped his eyes and looked up. "He's not agreeing with you. He's falling asleep again. Hey, Jimmy! Jimmy! Wake up!"

Jimmy stirred fitfully, muttering in protest. "Just a few more minutes, Mom. I'll factor those conjugate primes in just a little while, I promise."

"Wow," said Carl, looking a little worried. "He's really out of it."

Sheen nodded. "I'll say. He's never missed a chance to factor conjugate primes before."

At this point Cindy and Libby passed by and noticed Jimmy with his head lying on the lunch table. Cindy couldn't resist getting a shot in. "That big head of yours finally get too heavy to carry around, Neutron?" she called. When there was no answer she looked quizzically at Carl and Sheen. "What's going on?"

"Jimmy didn't get much sleep last night. He was busy in the lab with his latest project," Sheen replied.

"Yeah, he's a real party animal," Libby commented dryly, causing Cindy to snicker.

"It's no joke," said Carl. "He's worked late in his lab before but he's never been like this. Maybe he's sick."

"Relax," said Cindy. "There's nothing wrong with him that a little humility and personality wouldn't cure." She looked down at Jimmy's slightly twitching form thoughtfully and frowned slightly. "I wonder what he's dreaming about?"

In his half-asleep state Jimmy heard each word the others were saying but they seemed remote and devoid of coherent meaning, like random words on a spelling test. He could recognize and perfectly define each word as he heard them but none of the sentences they formed seemed to say anything.

"Maybe he's dreaming about his first kiss," Libby joked.

__

Maybe. Expressing a condition devoid of certainty. He's. Contraction of he_ and _is_. Dreaming. An unconscious state characterized by visual and auditory perceptions, usually accompanied by rapid eye movements…_

"Eww," said Sheen. "Wouldn't that be more like a nightmare?"

"More like a fantasy, you mean. The only place you'd find 'neutron' and 'kissing' together is in the dictionary," scoffed Cindy.

"If you say so, girl," replied Libby.

_If. Expressing conditionality. You. Second person address form. Say. To express verbally…_

"Here we go again," Sheen sighed, settling back in his chair.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" asked Cindy, placing her fists on her hips and looking from Libby to Sheen and back again.

"Oh, come on, Cindy," said Libby tiredly. "Do we have to go into this again about you and Jimmy?"

"Go into _what_ again?" Cindy demanded loudly, although her cheeks flushed slightly. At the sound Jimmy muttered and stirred uneasily.

"Uh, guys?" said Carl. "I think maybe our noise is bothering Jimmy. Maybe we should get out of here and leave him alone."

_Get. To obtain or attain. Out. Preposition expressing location external to a positional reference. Of. Preposition of relation. Here. Proximate to currently referenced location. Get…out…of…here… _For the first time the words began to congeal into meaningful patterns.

"My pleasure," Cindy sniffed. "With six billion people in the world there I think there's a pretty good chance there's better company somewhere."

_Leave…him…alone…_

Jimmy's jerky movements became more agitated but only Carl seemed to notice. "Hey, guys?" he ventured.

"Oh right, Cindy. Can't face it, erase it," Libby responded.

__

Get out of here.

"Meaning what, Folfax?" snapped Cindy.

__

Leave me alone.

"I think you know, Vortex," retorted Libby.

__

Get out of here. Leave me alone! Jimmy's breath was coming in short gasps now and his brow shone with sweat. "No," he croaked hoarsely.

"I know you think you know, but I know what you think you know you only think I know I think you know!"

"Good one, Cindy!" said Sheen, wrinkling his brow. "I think."

"Hey guys!" Carl voice was now almost frantic and the others forgot Cindy and Libby's growing argument to watch Jimmy, whose thrashing was becoming almost violent. Thoroughly alarmed, Carl and Sheen threw their arms around Jimmy to immobilize him while Cindy and Libby pulled Jimmy's head up and back from the hard surface of the table. Jimmy's face was deathly pale and the skin felt clammy to their touch. Slowly his eyes opened and Cindy recoiled in shock. Jimmy's eyes, normally blue, were now red and heavily bloodshot. With a great effort he struggled to speak, forcing Cindy to strain to hear his faint voice.

"Goddard," was all she heard.

End of Part 4.


	5. Part 5 Hard Choices

Goddard, Come Home

by Gary D. Snyder

Part 5:

Although Cindy and the others did not know it Goddard was in much the same condition as Jimmy. Usually he would have returned to Jimmy's room after leaving the lab to await Jimmy's eventual return, but his instructions to leave Jimmy alone pre-empted that option. After considering his situation he trotted behind the clubhouse that was the main entrance to Jimmy's underground lab and settled down to sleep. Part of his logic circuits had concluded that it would let him remain close to Jimmy without violating his commands. On a more practical level he simply had nowhere else to go.

Despite it being a calm and rather ordinary Retroville night Goddard slept fitfully. Something told him that things were not altogether as they should be and he woke a number of times, scanning the area for the danger his sensors told him was there. Each time, despite his intensive checks of the area, he was unable to identify anything out of the ordinary and he would slowly return to an uneasy sleep. At length morning came and he resumed his normal operations, but the feeling of peril did not depart with the coming of day. Rather it grew stronger, causing him to whine unhappily.

He wanted to be with Jimmy. His instincts told him that Jimmy would be able to find the danger, whatever it was, and make it go away. Since that was impossible his only choice was to try escaping the unseen menace that lurked nearby. It was not a choice that appealed to him, as even without Jimmy this place was still his home. With a last unhappy look back at the Neutron house he activated his jumpjets and sped off into the sky.

Curiously the feeling of danger did not recede as he rocketed through the sky. It remained with him, stronger than ever, and the faster he flew the closer to him the danger seemed to be. Unable to escape the hidden peril with flight he landed in Retroville Park near Lindbergh Elementary School where at that moment Jimmy was struggling to stay awake in class. The feeling of danger diminished, but did not go away entirely. Since he could not think of anything else to do Goddard crept into the relative shelter of some bushes and lay down, waiting for what he did not know. As he lay there his feeling of disquiet again began to grow, changing in turn from disquiet to uneasiness, uneasiness to apprehension, apprehension to anxiety, anxiety to dread, and dread to terror. Despite this, however, Goddard did not move. He lay where he was without moving, as though fear had transformed him into a statue, making escape from the unknown threat impossible.

In fact, although Goddard did not know it, he could not hope to escape the danger.

Goddard was the danger.

And with each passing second the danger continued to grow.

Oblivious to any of this Jimmy's friends were discussing what to do about Jimmy. Cindy vehemently insisted that they inform the school authorities so that they could call Jimmy's parents, while Sheen and Carl were just as strongly opposed and Libby wavered between the two opposing viewpoints. Fortunately lunch period was nearly over and except for the five of them the cafeteria was empty.

"It's obvious that he needs a doctor," Cindy argued. "There's nothing we can do about whatever is wrong with him."

"But we don't know that a doctor can help him," objected Sheen. "I've never seen anyone get sick like this before."

"Neither have I," Carl agreed. "And I've been sick a lot."

Sheen nodded vigourously. "And how."

"So what can we do?" Cindy demanded. "Even if they don't know what's wrong with him a doctor would know more than we do about trying to cure him."

Libby nodded. "That's true."

"Yeah, but maybe we can figure out what's wrong with him," said Sheen. "And if we get him back to his lab there might be something there that can help him."

Libby nodded again. "That's true."

Cindy considered this. "I suppose that's possible," she admitted grudgingly. "But I still say that we should turn this over to the adults and let them handle it. Suppose we tried to help Jimmy and couldn't, but because of that it was too late for anyone else to? Would you want to try explaining that to his parents?"

"No," Carl conceded. "But I'd hate trying to explain this to them, too."

"Priority check!" Cindy snapped. "Are we supposed to be thinking of ourselves here, or Jimmy?"

That made them all think. At last Libby said, "Okay, Jimmy is the main concern here. And whatever we decide has to be what we think will help him. But that comes back to our first question. What will help him?"

Sheen spoke slowly. "Well, I still say we try to help him ourselves. Whatever it is that he has, I'm almost certain that it was because of something that happened in his lab because it's not like anything any of use have ever seen before. And since Carl and I are both fine -"

_Says you_, thought Cindy wryly.

"- it must have been something that happened after we both left last night. Ergo, I say we take him back to his lab and check it out first."

"Makes sense to me," offered Libby.

Cindy thought about it. Although she would never admit it out loud, especially in front of witnesses, Sheen's reasoning seemed logical. It was possible they would find something that could explain Jimmy's condition, or at least provide enough clues to save some doctor valuable time in finding a cure. "I guess we could do that. But if we do…" her voice trailed off.

"Go on," prompted Sheen.

"If we do, and can't find a way to help Jimmy, then we tell his parents everything." She looked around at the rest. "Agreed?"

"Agreed," the others answered in chorus.

"Just one thing," added Libby. "Just how long do we look before we decide that we can't help Jimmy?"

Cindy looked down at Jimmy who, except for the pallor of his face, appeared to be sleeping. "One hour. I figure that even if we don't succeed, that won't be long enough to hurt him."

"One hour it is," agreed Sheen amiably as he gathered up Jimmy and headed for the door with others. He might have not felt so optimistic had he known the complete situation. Jimmy didn't have an hour. Neither did Sheen or his other friends.

They, and the rest of Retroville, had just over fifty-eight minutes left.

End of Part 5.


	6. Part 6 Just a Hair's Difference

Goddard, Come Home

by Gary D. Snyder

Part 6:

Despite the occasional need to duck behind a hedge or other object to avoid passers-by the small group made it to Jimmy's lab relatively quickly. Once there Carl plucked a hair from Jimmy's head and held it up to the DNA scanner beside the entrance. Normally Sheen and Carl would not have revealed this method to Cindy and Libby, but decided that this emergency called for desperate measures. Besides, the boys reasoned, Jimmy could wipe the girls' short term memories once things were back to normal. After a few seconds of scanning the strand Vox's voice intoned, "Rejected. Pattern not recognized."

'That's weird," said Sheen. "Try again."

Carl held the hair up again, with the same result. Puzzled at this, Sheen plucked another hair from Jimmy's head and held it to be scanned. This time the attempt was successful, with Vox welcoming Jimmy and opening the door. "I guess that you just have to have the right touch," was Sheen's comment.

"That's totally strange," commented Libby as they all entered the clubhouse. "I wonder what's up with Jimmy's computer?"

"At least it didn't dump us into the trash," replied Cindy. "Hey, Sheen, if Jimmy's such a genius why doesn't he just carry around one of his hairs instead of having to pluck a new one each time he wants into the lab?"

"One of the mysteries of the Universe," Sheen grunted, carrying Jimmy across the clubhouse. "Why is it that every week the blackboard says we're going on a field trip to the planetarium on Tuesday and we never go?"

Carl snorted a derisive laugh and they accessed the ingress tube to the lab. "Yeah. And what's up with those same spelling words all the time? I think we all know them by now."

"Spell 'defenestrate'," Libby challenged.

Carl thought mightily. "Umm…'D'…'E'…'E'…'F'…'I'…umm…can you use it in a sentence?"

"How about, 'If you don't stop yakking, I'm going to defenestrate you'?" Cindy replied in annoyance, looking around the lab.

Sheen looked mildly alarmed. "Is that like something the vet did to my cat?" he asked apprehensively as he placed Jimmy on a padded couch. Jimmy muttered something unintelligible and shifted restlessly without regaining consciousness.

"No, you hockey puck. It means to throw something out the window." Cindy sighed impatiently. "Well, we're here like you wanted. Now what?"

Sheen looked around. "Well, I'd say we should figure out what Jimmy did after we left him."

Libby stroked her chin thoughtfully. "It might be more useful if we first knew what you were doing before you left him. That way we could try to figure out what he did."

"Well," began Carl, "Jimmy was over there by that machine putting together stuff to make a new pet for his project report next Friday. And then he tripped over Goddard and…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," interrupted Cindy. "What do you mean 'putting stuff together to make a new pet'?"

"He was going to recombine some TNT to grow a brand new pet," Sheen offered helpfully. "And he needed to make some new jeans to do that."

Cindy, by this time used to Sheen's semi-garbled statements, succeeded in extracting the meaning from what he said. "Do you mean he was recombining DNA to genetically engineer a new animal?"

"Uh…that sounds familiar."

_Big-brained show-off_, thought Cindy in disgust, but her features softened somewhat at the sight of Jimmy's still form on the couch. "Okay, I think I follow you. Then what?"

"Like Carl said," Sheen went on, "Jimmy tripped over Goddard and spilled the stuff all over the lab floor. Then Carl and I helped him to clean it up and we went home while he made a new batch."

"But first he yelled at Goddard and made Goddard leave," added Carl sadly.

Cindy thought about this. "What did you do to clean up the spill?"

"Well, Sheen and I mostly just handed things to Jimmy," replied Carl. "He collected all the broken glass and spilled liquid and put it into one of those containers over there." Carl pointed to several small canisters marked with the interlinked crescents denoting biohazardous materials.

_So Neutron was the only one who actually handled the contaminated materials_, Cindy thought. _It's just possible that he may have been infected somehow. Maybe a small piece of glass cut him and some genetic material got into his system. Or maybe he breathed it in. But why would he react this way?_ "What DNA was Neutron using? Anything contagious or dangerous?"

"Well, there was some from Mr. Wuggles," replied Carl. "And some from Sheen, and some from me, and some from Jimmy."

"Those are all annoying, but not actually dangerous," Cindy mused.

"And some from a shitake mushroom," concluded Sheen, "so that it would grow fast."

Cindy gave them a sour look. "Mushrooms aren't dangerous either."

"They are to me," was Carl's defensive response. "I'm allergic."

Cindy was about to say, "So what?" to Carl but froze instead. "You're allergic to mushrooms?" she asked. Carl nodded. "And one of Jimmy's hairs didn't work on the DNA scanner." She bit her lower lip.

"What are you thinking about, Cindy?" asked Libby.

"Yeah, spill," prodded Sheen.

Cindy began pacing back and forth, looking and sounding, if she had known it, very much like Jimmy at times. "Jimmy used mushroom DNA to promote rapid growth. And he also used his own and Carl's DNA…"

"And mine," said Sheen, slightly offended.

Cindy ignored the interruption. "It's possible that some of the recombinant DNA was absorbed into his system…and because some of it was his own DNA it merged with the DNA in his own system very readily. Because the mushroom DNA was selected for rapid growth, it could be that the foreign DNA is replicating very rapidly and is taking over Jimmy's own DNA structure. That's why the DNA in one of his hairs didn't work. It's a mutant strain."

"OK," said Sheen. "So Jimmy's DNA is different. But why is he sick?"

Cindy looked impatient. "Don't you get it? Part of that DNA is Carl's. And part of it is the mushroom's. Carl is allergic to mushrooms. As the new DNA takes over, Carl's DNA is directing Jimmy's immune system to create antibodies in response to the mushroom DNA. Jimmy is becoming allergic to himself!"

"Uh…is that bad?" asked Libby.

Cindy looked worried. "Severe allergic reactions can kill people. If we don't find some way to get his DNA back to normal, Jimmy could die."

There was a moment of stunned silence from everyone. Then Carl began to sob. "It's all my fault! What else can go wrong?"

At that moment a warning klaxxon began to sound in accompaniment to a bright rotating beacon that filled the lab with dizzying waves of blood-red light. "Danger. Extreme emergency. Danger. Extreme emergency," Vox's voice announced in an eerily calm voice as the klaxxon continued to wail. "Thirty minutes to failure of Goddard unit's primary power system."

"He was just asking," screamed Sheen over the din.

End of Part 6.


	7. Part 7 And Who, In the Guise of Mortal M...

Goddard, Come Home

by Gary D. Snyder

Part 7:

Back in the park Goddard remained unaware of the imminent failure of his primary power system. He knew only that his internal sensors detected danger and that the danger was growing. As his power system continued to degrade, built-in safeties began to selectively shut down portions of his elaborate infrastructure. In theory these were meant to safeguard the most vital portions of his circuitry from possible damage but in practice they were electronically lobotomizing him. One by one his higher cognitive processes went off-line and the bright plasma streams that were usually visible in his clear cranial dome faded. In their place faint and intermittent flickers of electric discharges appeared, representing the most basic of instincts. Robbed of his higher thought processes and faced with danger Goddard reacted as any primitive creature would.

He became a very, very dangerous animal.

In the lab Cindy had found the alarm cutoff button and succeeded in shutting off the annoying klaxxon and flashing red light. On the main viewscreen, however, a digital timer appeared, showing the minutes and seconds remaining until the failure of Goddard's primary power system. The countdown now read 28:43. Libby was puzzled by the situation.

"Why would Jimmy be so worried about Goddard losing power?" she wondered, speaking to no one in particular.

"Who knows?" Cindy replied. "Leave it to Neutron to make a federal case about his robot's batteries going dead. Right now we have more important things to worry about. What are we going to do about Jimmy?"

"I thought you already figured that out," said Carl.

"Yeah," added Sheen. "You said that the DNA he made last night was making him allergic to himself. All you have to do is get rid of the bad DNA, right?"

Cindy stared. "Oh, is that all?"

"Well…yeah…I think."

Cindy stalked up to Sheen and poked a finger in his chest. "Look, just because I think I know what's making him sick doesn't mean that I know how to fix it. This is way beyond me."

"But what else can we do?" asked Sheen, spreading his hands.

"Get him to a doctor, of course, and the sooner the better. I don't know how much longer he may have."

Carl looked worried and fidgeted. "Will the doctors be able to cure him?"

Cindy gave a snort of exasperation at this unexpected difficulty. "Yes. No. I don't know. Eventually, I guess," she stammered avoiding Carl's pleading look. "All I know is that there's nothing we can do."

"Are you sure?" Carl continued to fidget, annoying Cindy no end. "Because, I mean, maybe we can think of something."

"Okay, fine," Cindy shot back. "Have it your way. Let's hear any ideas, no matter how absurd or impractical they may sound."

Sheen thought a second and then raised his hand. "Hey! I know! Maybe we can all move to Alaska and start a team of junior super-heroes. We could call ourselves the Teeny Titans. Or maybe the Pre-Teen Titans. Or -"

Cindy glared at Sheen. "Let me rephrase that," she snapped through clenched teeth. "Let's hear any ideas relevant to helping Jimmy, no matter how absurd or impractical they may sound." She looked around at the others, waiting for suggestions. There were none. "No? Then it's settled. There's nothing we can do."

Carl sighed. "You're right. The I guess only one smart enough to help Jimmy is Jimmy."

Libby looked up suddenly at that. "What did you say?"

"Huh?" was all Carl could reply.

"You said the only person smart enough to help Jimmy is Jimmy. But we have Jimmy right here."

"We also have some leftover pizza here, too," pointed out Cindy. "And I think that we have a better chance of getting it to talk than Jimmy right now."

"But we don't have to talk," Libby responded excitedly. "You can use Jimmy's virtual brain pod to find out from him how to cure him."

Cindy looked incredulous. "You want me to use the brain pod?"

"Yeah! Like when we had to sort your and Jimmy's memories and get you back into your bodies," agreed Sheen.

"Uh-uh, no way, forget it," said Cindy vehemently. "There is no way I'm getting my mind dumped into that thing again. If you want to use it, you can have your brain sucked into it."

"Cindy, you know we can't do that," Libby replied. "You're the only one who's smart enough to understand what Jimmy will need us to do. And like you said, we don't know how much longer Jimmy has."

"Then I suggest," Cindy said icily, "that we stop delaying and get Jimmy to a doctor right now. I am not going to have my mind mixed with Neutron's again and that's final. It's a miracle I didn't end up in an insane asylum last time."

"But maybe you don't have to completely mix your minds together like last time. Maybe you can modify it somehow to just create a mind link with Jimmy."

"Forget it. There's no way I can modify that monstrosity." With that Cindy turned and walked off, cutting off Libby's attempts to argue the point further. Libby, Carl, and Sheen looked at each other, unsure what to do.

__

Merge my mind with Neutron's again? Cindy through viciously, sitting down in one corner of the lab. _As if reality television wasn't enough to rot my brain._ She became aware of someone standing beside her and looked up. To her surprise it was Sheen, playing with one of his seemingly unlimited Ultra Lord figures. _When is he going to grow up?_ she wondered bitterly. "You can save your breath," was all she said, looking down again.

"I'm not here to try to talk you into anything," replied Sheen sitting down. "I just wanted to say that I understand how your feel."

"Like you know what it is to share your entire mind with someone."

"No, actually I don't," was Sheen's agreeable reply. "But I know what it's like when people want you to do something you don't want to do." He made a loop-the-loop with Ultra Lord. "I mean, people keep telling me to grow up and act my age all the time."

"It's not the same thing."

"I know. But the thing is I have my reasons just like you do."

Cindy was intrigued despite herself. "What reasons?"

"Well…" Sheen looked around to make sure that Libby and Carl were still on the other side of the lab watching Jimmy. "A long time ago I thought to myself, 'What's so great about growing up so soon?' I mean, yeah, sure, you can drive cars and vote and other stuff, but those are things you'll be able to do for the rest of your life. And there are so many things you won't ever be able to do again." Cindy watched thoughtfully as he swooped Ultra Lord in front of them. "It's only when you're a kid that you can really believe that there's a hero who will always be there to do the right thing and save the day, no matter what the odds."

Cindy nodded. "You mean like Ultra Lord."

Sheen shook his head. "No. I mean like Jimmy."

Cindy started at this. "What?"

"Every time something has gone wrong, no matter what, Jimmy has always gotten us through. Even when the odds are way against him and there's no hope he'll succeed he always has. And he's always done it when we've needed him most. And I think that sometime Jimmy thinks the same way about you. Whenever he's really needed someone to be by his side he's always been able to count on you." Sheen looked down at the Ultra Lord figure in his hand. "I know I'll probably never meet the real Ultra Lord, but with Jimmy around it was a lot easier to believe that he was really out there and that it was just a question of when he would show up. I've believed that every day of my life since I first saw Ultra Lord." He looked over at Jimmy's still form and looked down again. Until today." He set the plastic toy down gently on the floor and stood up. "Maybe it really is time for me to grow up."

As Sheen walked slowly away Cindy reached over and picked up the action figure, slowly turning it over in her hands. Her eyes moved slowly from the plastic figure to her friends huddled in a group and finally to Jimmy. He lay unmoving on the couch and in the lab's artificial light looked paler than ever. _Don't grow up just yet, Sheen_, she thought to herself as she came to her sudden decision. _Maybe we all need someone who can still believe in heroes._

The timer on the viewscreen now read 21:14.

End of Part 7.

Author's Note:

Some people may believe that the title of this chapter, "And Who, In the Guise of Mortal Men" refers to Jimmy or Cindy. It actually refers to Sheen.


	8. Part 8 That Thinking Feeling

Goddard, Come Home

by Gary D. Snyder

Part 8:

Although Cindy didn't have the background to fully understand how Jimmy's virtual brain pod worked she knew that there had to be conduits to transfer the information to and from their brains. After studying the wiring for a moment she identified what she thought were the appropriate information transmission cables. She carefully disconnected them from the main machine and busied herself with creating a null modem connection, connecting what she termed the transmit line of one table to the receiver line of the other and vice versa. It was only a guess that this would actually work, but Cindy reasoned to herself that the signals coming from and going to the brain would have to be similar in nature and that directly coupling the tables together in this way should work. Unless, she told herself and Libby helped strap her onto her table, she had picked the wrong wires in which case anything – including getting 120 volts shot directly into their brains – could happen. It was not a comfortable thought. She glanced at the table next to her on which Jimmy was already strapped.

"Ready, girl?" Libby asked.

Cindy closed her eyes tightly. "Ready."

"Okay," said Sheen. "Atomic batteries to power. Turbines to –"

"Just throw the switch!"

"Oh, man," said Sheen in a subdued voice as he threw the switch to activate the device. "What a –"

Instantly Cindy's body went limp as energy coursed through her mind and swept her consciousness away with it. It seemed to her in her dreamlike state that she was rushing through a dark and featureless tunnel towards her as yet unknown destination…or was it destiny? As she sped along she became aware of sounds, as of many people talking around her in the darkness. She dimly realized that all the voices sounded familiar but she didn't try to identify them or make out what they were saying. She felt content to let the current carry her weightless body along and think about nothing.

After a timeless interval she finally spotted something in the darkness ahead. At first it was only a tiny dot but it grew rapidly in size and clarity until she recognized it as the form of Jimmy. He was sitting down with his eyes closed and was apparently asleep. She gradually slowed until she was what seemed only a few feet away from him. Jimmy didn't stir. "Hello?" she said.

At the sound of her voice Jimmy's eyes snapped open and he leaped to his feet with a startled cry. "Cindy?" He looked confused. "What are your doing here?"

"Nice to see you, too," she replied dryly. "I'm here because I needed to get some information from you and this was the only way to do it."

Jimmy's confused expression didn't change. "What are you talking about?"

Cindy gave a rapid summary of what had happened to him and how she had rewired his virtual brain pod to provide a mind-to-mind communications link. "And now," she concluded, "we need to find some way to get your DNA back to normal before it's too late – whatever 'too late' means." Despite her explanation and urgent tone Jimmy still appeared oddly disoriented. No, not disoriented, she decided. He seemed distracted by something. "Hello? Am I boring you with all this?"

"What? No…it's just that…can't you hear them?" Jimmy gestured around them.

Curious, Cindy listened carefully and again became aware of a babble of numerous voices around them, as though an unseen crowd surrounded by them in the darkness. This time, in addition to the voices she had heard on her journey here, there were additional voices. "What are they?" she finally asked.

"Thoughts. Memories. Shadows of the past," was all Jimmy said in an odd voice. "There! Hear that?"

Faintly above the clamor of voices she heard a childish voice say, "Good Goddie!"

So what? she thought. A booming "So what?" in her voice reverberated around them, startling her.

"You might as well speak out loud," said Jimmy. "If we're mind-linked the way you say we are it will come out anyway.

"Sorry," Cindy apologized. "What was that we heard?"

Jimmy looked wistful. "That was me when I first built Goddard. I couldn't say 'doggie' very well and it came out 'goddie', kind of how some kids say 'pasghetti' instead of 'spagehetti' or 'Bubba' instead of 'brother'. At first Goddard thought that 'Goddie' was his name. When I got older I modified 'Goddie' to 'Goddard' for ease of compatibility with his speech recognition processes."

"Oh. I see."

"Now, now, Jim-Jam, mustn't let the doggie sleep on the bed with you," some distant voice said.

"Want Goddie with Jim-Jam!" the childish voice wailed.

Cindy tried to suppress a smile and failed. "Jim-Jam?"

Jimmy looked embarrassed. "It's what my father always called me when I was little. I thought my name was Jim-Jam almost until I was old enough to start school. He still calls me that sometimes."

Cindy nodded. "That's all fascinating, but why are you listening to all this stuff?"

"Well, I'm not actually listening to it. It's just what's playing in my head right now. I guess it's because I said some things to Goddard that I shouldn't have…" His voice trailed off in a long sigh. "I miss him. There must be some thoughts going through your mind right now." Suddenly he looked up and to Cindy's horror she heard a voice say, "Someday, Cindy, a man will look into your eyes and find his destiny there." Jimmy looked mildly annoyed. "Just who was that?" he demanded.

"That's none of your business!" she snapped. "Can you please tell me how to fix you so I can leave here and do it?" Around them her voice boomed, "I knew I shouldn't have done this. I have to get out of here before Freak Brain hears any more personal stuff."

"Don't worry about it," Jimmy replied stiffly. "If I hear any more of your personal stuff I think I'll be sick."

"Then get on with it!"

"Fine! Anything to get you out of here!" Jimmy waited a few seconds to cool down and spoke more calmly. "First, get hold of a sample of my original DNA and the mutated DNA."

Cindy considered that. "Sheen should still have the unmutated. hair we used to get into your lab and we should be able to get a mutated sample from another of your hairs."

Jimmy looked baffled. "Why would Sheen still have the hair you used to get into my lab?"

Cindy shrugged. "He's Sheen. Does there have to be a reason?"

"Whatever. Put the samples into the Gene Manipulator 2000 and run a gene sequence comparison. Have the manipulator identify the differences and distill the relevant codons for the original DNA into a recombinant mixture. Then inject the mixture into me and the mutation process should start to reverse."

"How long will that take?"

"I don't know. Since it's my original genetic structure it should be a lot faster than the mutated DNA. Why?"

"Well…" Cindy paused, wondering if what she was going to say would sound frivolous to him. "We're all kind of cutting school to get this done. I think we're going to be in trouble when we finally get back."

"You did that? For me?" Jimmy seemed taken aback by this.

"We all did," she replied, fidgeting in embarassment. "You were in trouble. And we're your…friends."

Jimmy looked down, not sure what to say. "Thanks," he finally managed to mumble and quickly changed the subject. "And when you get back, could you tell Goddard I'm sorry? Just in case it takes me a while to get back on my feet."

"I will if I see him," she promised. "But I don't recall seeing him at all today." She frowned as something else came back to her. "I just remembered. Vox was saying something about a problem with Goddard."

"What problem?" Jimmy asked, concerned.

"Some sort of primary power system failure in 20 minutes or so. Why? Is that important?"

The look on Jimmy's face was a more than adequate answer and not at all to Cindy's liking. She couldn't recall ever seeing him appear so worried, almost scared. "Only if you had definite plans for anythng more than 20 minutes from now," was his answer. "I'm afraid this puts a rush on things. You have to cure me _now_."

"Now? But why? What's the hurry?"

"Because," he replied in a voice that gave her chills, "unless I fix him in 20 minutes or less, Goddard will explode."

End of Part 8.

Author's Notes:

I apologize for the delay in getting this chapter completed. I hope that it was worth the wait for everyone. The subsequent chapters should definitely go faster.


	9. Part 9 And Now For the News

Goddard, Come Home

by Gary D. Snyder

Part 9:

Although Jimmy's words filled her with dread Cindy couldn't understand why. "So…he explodes," she finally said. "So what? He's exploded before. He does that whenever you tell him to play dead and he just puts himself back together again. It doesn't really seem to hurt him."

"That's different," Jimmy replied harshly. "Those explosions disassemble him but don't destroy the integrity of his systems. That's why it's just 'playing dead' to him. This explosion really will destroy him."

"I still don't see the problem. You can just build him again. You could even put in some state-of-the-art improvements and make him better."

"Mechanically, maybe. But not his neural net. Don't you understand? His _programming_ would be gone."

"Well, you programmed him the first time. So why couldn't you just re-program him again?"

"_Because I didn't program him!_" Even though she and Jimmy were not actually face-to-face Cindy took a step backward at this outburst. Reining in his temper and frustration Jimmy went on more quietly. "I wasn't the one who programmed him."

"But you…he's your…" Cindy stammered in confusion. "If you didn't program him, who did?"

Jimmy slumped to the ground in resignation. "I did." Before Cindy could respond to that he went on. "And you. And Carl, Sheen, my mom, my dad, Miss Fowl, Nick, Humphrey…everyone and everything he's ever encountered since I first activated him. Every experience he's ever had, everything he's ever learned, and every memory he's ever stored has been his programming. All I did was put in his basic behavioral and system management processes to start him off. Everything else is what he's developed on his own." His voice grew very quiet and Cindy could barely hear his next words. "It's what makes him who he is. If that's gone, he'll be gone, too. Forever." Jimmy fell silent, but around them his voice rumbled, "Please…don't let me lose him."

Cindy didn't know what to say to this. She had always thought of Goddard as just another of Jimmy's sophisticated inventions, but after hearing his words she thought that she began to better understand what Goddard meant to Jimmy. _And maybe Jimmy as well_, she added to herself. She winced as the words echoed around the two of them but Jimmy made no sign that he had heard or that she had moved to stand beside him until she laid a hand on his shoulder. "Then I guess," she said gently, "we'll have to make sure that doesn't happen." She looked around. "Which way to the exit?"

"- gyp," concluded Sheen in the lab. Then, seeing Cindy open her eyes, he asked, "Hey, Cindy! What happened? Didn't it work?"

Cindy looked over at the display screen which read 20:03, about the same time as when she the mind link had been initiated. Apparently mind-to-mind communications was nearly instantaneous, as it had seemed much longer to her. "It worked," she answered. "Now get me out of this. We don't have much time."

For the next few minutes Cindy worked frantically to distill the necessary DNA while simultaneously answering various questions put to her by Libby, Sheen, and Carl. "Yes, Libby, we could actually hear each other's thoughts. Yes, Sheen, I suppose it would be a useful power for Ultra Lord to have. No, Carl, we weren't thinking anything about llamas. And for the umpteenth time, it was a totally disgusting experience."

"Actually, I don't think anyone asked whether it was disgusting or not," Sheen pointed out.

"Well it was, so don't ever ask me again," Cindy snapped as she removed a vial containing a clear viscous liquid from the Genetic Manipulator. "Done," she announced. "According to Jimmy, this should reverse the effects of the mutated DNA. Then we can start looking for Goddard." Carefully she inserted the vial into the chamber of the pneumatic hypogun Jimmy had described to her, pressed the nozzle against his arm, and pulled the trigger. There was a long hiss as the DNA was injected into Jimmy's system, and then Cindy put the gun down with a sigh. "It's just a question of time now."

"While we're waiting, can't we try to find Goddard?" Libby suggested.

"Good idea," replied Cindy. "What's the best way to do that?"

"Doesn't Goddard have a homing beacon or something?" asked Carl. "Maybe Vox can tell us where he is."

Cindy shook her head. "I don't think Vox will obey anyone but Jimmy."

"That's not true," countered Sheen. "Vox will do what Carl and I say."

"Sometimes," added Carl. "As long as it's not dangerous or complicated or illegal or –"

"What can you get Vox to do?" Cindy interrupted.

"Let us watch TV or play video games," Sheen admitted.

"Pretty much," agreed Carl.

Cindy snorted in disgust. "That's useful."

"Hey! Don't knock it until you've tried it!" Sheen said defensively. "Vox! TV!"

"Please specify channel or frequency," Vox replied.

"Anything with information about dogs in Retroville."

"Or llamas," added Carl, as Sheen glared at him.

Instantly the video screen changed from the countdown (which now read 17:49) to a picture of a man in a suit and tie in what appeared to be a newsroom. "…reports of a dog terrorizing citizens of Retroville continue to come in."

"Boring," said Sheen. "Let's watch something else."

"Shh!" Cindy and Libby shushed franticly.

"Exact details are sketchy, but the dog appears to be attacking people at random in the vicinity of a city park near Lindbergh Elementary School using some sort of heat weapon." He broke off and placed a hand over one ear. "I'm receiving a message now saying we have an exclusive visual representation of the attacks and will show that now. Viewers are warned that the following scenes may be graphic and may not be suitable for young children."

Instantly the scene of a large fire-breathing lizard igniting several nearby skyscrapers replaced the image of the newscaster. Sheen was outraged.

"Hey, wait a minute!" he cried. "That's from _Bonzilla Unleashed_! That was in Yokohama, not Retroville!"

The newscaster reappeared with a flustered look on his face. Attempting to regain his composure, he announced, "That is clearly not what is actually happening in Retroville, as the picture was obviously not that of a dog, nor of Retroville." He glared off-screen at some unseen person. "Since we don't have an actual video clip, perhaps our graphics department has some artwork to more accurately represent the situation. Especially if they expect to work here tomorrow."

After a few seconds the newscaster again disappeared to be replaced by a rough hand-drawn picture a house with flames rising from the roof. On one side of the house was the crude rendering of a dog, larger than the house, with "Woof!" scrawled in a word balloon above its head. On the other side several stick figures were running away, with the word "Help!" in word balloons above their heads. After a moment the picture disappeared and the angry newscaster reappeared.

"To summarize," he said in a very tight voice, "there are reports of a dog terrorizing Retroville citizens in the vicinity of the park near Lindbergh Elementary School. Residents are cautioned to remain indoors while the military responds to the situation. And now back to our regularly scheduled programming." As the scene faded the newscaster's voice could be hear saying, "I don't care how short the notice on this item was. These people are supposed to be professionals…"

The screen went blank and was replaced with the countdown, which now read 15:08. "No further transmissions meeting search criteria found," Vox informed them in a pleasant voice.

"So Goddard is in the park by school and attacking people?" Cindy remarked to no one in particular. She shook her head. "It doesn't sound like him."

"No, it doesn't," agreed Libby. "I don't think I've ever seen Goddard attack anyone without provocation before."

"That may be a side effect of his power system failing. In any case, this is our only lead."

"Then let's get going," someone said a faintly. The others turned in the direction of the voice to see Jimmy conscious, still lying on the table and looking weak. "We've got less than 15 minutes left."

End of Part 9.


	10. Part 10 The Root of the Problem

Goddard, Come Home

by Gary D. Snyder

Part 10:

"Jimmy!" cried Carl. "You're awake!"

"How do you feel, Jimmy?" asked Libby.

"I've felt better," he answered, moving uncertainly across the floor towards them. "I feel like I've eaten way too much mushroom pizza."

"So what's the plan, Jimmy?" Sheen asked as Jimmy paused to steady himself. "Go to the park and get Goddard?"

Jimmy took a deep breath before answering. "Not yet. First I have to find what went wrong with the power system so I'll know how to fix it. Vox!" he called. "Specify cause of Goddard unit's power system failure!"

"Residual core magnetism has compromised integrity of the reaction containment field," Vox responded.

This announcement meant nothing to the others but was enough to make Jimmy drop heavily into a chair with a groan. "It's worse than I thought," he said. "It's not just Goddard that's in danger. It's all of us as well." He struggled to his feet again. "Help me get some things packed."

"What do you mean, 'all of us as well'?" Cindy demanded. "You mean us five?"

Jimmy retrieved his hypercube and began to sluggishly drop various gizmos and gadgets from shelves into it. "That too," was all he said.

Cindy, unsatisfied with this answer, stalked over to confront him. "Okay, science boy. What gives? What did you mean by us all being in danger?"

Jimmy paused and gave her a weary look. "I meant," he replied, "that the explosion will be a lot worse than I expected. If Goddard explodes, the explosion will get us as well." He resumed placing various objects in the hypercube.

"But Goddard's way over in the park," Sheen pointed out. "Just how big an explosion would it be?"

"Yes, Neutron. Just how big?" Cindy pressed.

Jimmy paused to rest again. "You know that house you like, the one with gingerbread trim that's about a block or so from here?"

"Ye-e-es," Cindy replied slowly, as if expecting some sort of catch.

"Well…I figure that anything about 20 miles past that should be beyond the primary blast radius."

"What?!" the others all shouted in unison.

"This is too slow!" said Jimmy in frustration. "Look, just help me put everything on these shelves in here. I don't have time to pick and choose." Still stunned, his friends moved to comply, tossing everything they could into the small cube.

"How could Goddard create an explosion 40 miles across?" Cindy asked at last. "The only thing that powerful would be an nuclear bomb." She gave Jimmy a sudden suspicious look. "He's not nuclear, is he?"

"No. Well, not really. Sort of."

Cindy let out a sigh of exasperation and gave him a long, disconcerting look.

"Okay," Jimmy relented. "He's not really nuclear. He doesn't use anything radioactive like uranium or plutonium or tritium. I wasn't able to get any of that when I first built him. About all I could get without much trouble was aluminum Purple Flurp cans."

_Thank heaven for small favors_, thought Cindy. _Otherwise Retroville would have been a crater years ago_.

"But I calculated that my energy cells wouldn't be enough to keep him powered for more than a week or so and I knew that Dad and Mom would complain about the electric bills whenever I recharged him. So…I cheated."

"You cheated?" asked Libby, who was goggle-eyed in disbelief.

"Go on," urged Cindy.

"The reason that some elements are unstable and can be used in fusion or fission reactions is mainly because of the forces inside the nucleus. The protons try to push each other away, and the neutrons try to hold them together. In some atoms there aren't enough neutrons to keep the protons together and the nucleus wants to split apart. That's fission. In others there are too many neutrons for the number of protons and the nucleus wants to merge with other nuclei. That's fusion. What determines how many protons and neutrons form a stable nucleus is the strength of the balancing forces in the nucleus. Since I couldn't get unstable elements for Goddard's power source I did the only thing I could. I invented a reactor that changes the strength of the strong nuclear force." Seeing Cindy's incredulous look he added hastily, "But just a little. Just enough to let me use aluminum as fuel for a fusion reaction."

"So that's why Goddard likes aluminum cans," Carl said.

"O-ka-a-ay," Sheen let out slowly as he continued to place items in the hypercube. "And what's gone wrong?"

"Like other fusion reactions I needed a powerful magnetic field to contain the reaction. But eventually the core itself becomes magnetized."

"Oh, like when you wind a wire around a nail and make and electromagnet. Afterwards the nail is a little magnetic even without power," Libby said.

"Exactly," Jimmy agreed. "The problem is that when the core becomes magnetized the magnetic field gets weaker because the two fields fight each other. If I leave it…because I left it…uncorrected, the field has weakened to the point where it can't keep the modified nuclear force localized. All the aluminum fuel and a lot of the other material inside Goddard will be used up in an uncontrolled fusion reaction. It will be like dropping a hydrogen bomb on Retroville unless I can get there and degauss Goddard in time."

"My computer monitor has that sort of thing built in." Cindy commented, trying to sound calm. "Degaussing him should be pretty simple."

"It is simple," replied Jimmy, but even through the fatigue in his voice the others could sense something odd in his tone. "You just apply an intense alternating magnetic field to counteract the residual magnetism."

"So why the long face?" asked Libby.

"It's not the degaussing that's the problem." He shook his head. "You heard the news report. Apparently Goddard has been attacking people, which means he's running on his basic behavioral algorithms and trying to protect himself. There are a lot of defensive systems built into him. I have to get past those and get close enough to him for the degausser to work. I may not have time to try reasoning with him." With the hypercube now fully packed he straightened and glanced at the video screen. "We only have seven minutes and twenty-two seconds left."

End of Part 10.


	11. Part 11 Down to the Wire

Goddard, Come Home

by Gary D. Snyder

Part 11:

In the park near the school Goddard was dashing about frantically as though possessed, and in a manner of speaking he was. The feeling of imminent peril was now so intense that his defense responses had overridden all his other behavior mechanisms. In panic and desperation he charged madly about, targeting and blasting anything he encountered with his high-intensity lasers in an attempt to eliminate the danger. Numerous bushes, trees, and benches bore smoking scars in testimony to his mad rampage but as yet no one had been injured. Passers-by had, however, witnessed his actions and alerted the local authorities to the presence of a mad dog in the park. As more details of the situation became available the matter was passed from the animal control authorities to the police, to City Hall, and finally to the military. Although understandably skeptical of the reports the Officer of the Day finally agreed to refer the matter to her superiors.

"Sweet Adeline, lieutenant!" bellowed General Ambercrombie when he received the message. "Do we look like the local dog pound?"

"It's not just an ordinary dog, sir," the junior officer replied nervously. "It's apparently setting fires in a public park."

The general looked thoughtful. "Does it have a permit?"

"I don't think so, sir," was the officer's diplomatic reply.

"Well, we aren't the fire department either. Not our job."

"No sir. But the circumstances surrounding the situation are unusual enough that the mayor of Retroville would appreciate our looking into it."

The general squinted at the name. "Retroville? I seem to recall a lot of reports of unusual aerial activity around there. And there was that situation with Winnifred Fowl not long ago. It might be worth scrambling a flight to check things out at that. All right, tell Mayor Quasar that we're sending a couple fighters out their way to assess the situation."

"Yes sir," the officer replied as she snapped to attention and saluted. " Any special instructions, sir?"

The general returned the salute. "Strict rules of engagement. They are not to fire unless fired upon. Have them report back whatever they find before taking any other action." He paused. "And if they pass by any music stores, see if they can find out when _Yodeling to the Oldies 2_ comes out."

"Yes sir." The officer made sure her back was turned before rolling her eyes. _Twenty years until my pension, twenty years until my pension_, she told herself over and over.

As the military jets were preparing to take off Jimmy and the others were speeding towards the park in his hovercraft. Because he was still too groggy to pilot the vehicle Jimmy reluctantly allowed Sheen to take the controls, a decision that everyone except Sheen quickly regretted.

"This is awful!" wailed Libby over the rush of the wind.

"Yeah!" Sheen shouted with glee as he put the craft through a series of manic maneuvers. "It _is_ awesome!" He turned back to grin at Jimmy, causing Carl to cover his eyes in terror.

"Watch where you're driving, Sheen!" he screamed.

"Relax, Carl," Sheen replied as he turned back around. "Cindy isn't panicking."

"I think she fainted when you tried doing that loop-the-loop," said Libby.

"Yeah," Sheen sulked. "But Jimmy had to spoil it."

"This vehicle can't do a loop-the-loop," Jimmy argued. "It has to keep the pressurized stream of air beneath it to remain airborne."

"Have you ever tried?"

"No," Jimmy admitted grudgingly.

"Then how do you know? Gee, Jimmy, try being a kid once in a while. It's lots more fun."

At that moment Libby pointed ahead in relief. "There's the park. Thank goodness."

"Aw, man!" Sheen protested. "Just when I was getting good." Nevertheless he slowed the craft down and let it settle gently to the ground. As the passengers hastily vacated the hovercraft Sheen asked, "Hey, Jimmy, can I borrow this thing sometime?"

Jimmy wasn't listening. "We have to find Goddard, and fast. We only have about five minutes left," he said as they made their way towards the central clearing.

"Tell me about it," said Cindy. "If we don't find him soon we're all in big trouble." She had scarcely said this when two bright red beams flashed past them, grazing a tree. Despite the glancing touch the beams left black, smoking streaks on the bark.

"I think we've found him and we're still in trouble," Libby called out as she dove behind a large boulder on the perimeter of the clearing. The others quickly followed suit and peered carefully around the edge of their protective cover. In the center of the green was Goddard, standing motionless and staring in their direction. Although he made no threatening move his posture and the odd glow in his photoreceptors exuded an air of extreme menace.

"Okay, Neutron, we've found your dog. Now what?" demanded Cindy.

"I've got to get close enough to him to use the degausser," Jimmy replied.

"You'd never make it!" protested Libby. "You'd be charbroiled before you were even halfway there."

"He won't hurt me," said Jimmy. "I imprinted myself on his circuits when I first programmed him. He trusts me."

"And if those circuits aren't working anymore?" Cindy asked.

"I've got to try anyway." Jimmy got shakily to his feet and slowly began to move around the edge of the boulder. "He's my dog. I owe it to him."

Cindy looked worried. "Listen…may we can distract him while you –"

"No." Jimmy shook his head. "Thanks, but no thanks. He's my dog. He trusts me. If he suspects a trap he might panic and there's no telling what would happen." He edged around from the protection of the boulder and stepped slowly towards Goddard, speaking soothingly. "Nice Goddard. It's Jimmy. Good boy, Goddard…" Goddard tilted his head slightly as if noticing Jimmy for the first time. "That's it, boy. Come to Jimmy…"

For a second Jimmy thought that Goddard was responding to him but then saw that the glow in Goddard's photoreceptors were changing to a dangerous blood-red. In terror he realized that Goddard had not been listening to him, but had instead been targeting him with his lasers. As swiftly as he could Jimmy turned and dashed for the boulder but before he could get there Goddard fired. Almost in the same instant Jimmy was hurled to the ground by a lithe figure tackling him, causing the deadly beams to pass over them both. Before Goddard could target and fire again they both scrambled back behind the boulder.

"Thanks, Cindy," gasped Jimmy. "I really owe you one."

Usually Cindy would have milked the moment for all it was worth but instead looked at her watch. "Now what? We only have about three minutes left."

"I don't know." Jimmy shook his head in bafflement. "I can't understand it. It's like he thinks I'm an enemy."

"Maybe he's still mad that you yelled at him and made him go away," suggested Carl.

"Maybe."

"Jimmy," Libby said gently, "I know how you feel about Goddard, but I think maybe it's down to him or us. You might have to…put him away."

Jimmy looked troubled but said nothing. _Put him away?_ he thought. _I don't know if I can do that. But if I don't, everyone in Retroville could be killed. There has to be another option!_

"Maybe Libby is right, Jimmy," said Sheen.

"Maybe. I don't know," Jimmy stalled. "What's Goddard doing now?"

Carl peeped out. "He's not looking this way anymore. I think he's looking at some birds."

"Where?" Jimmy asked, and let his gaze follow the direction of Carl's pointing finger. High in the sky two small dots were approaching, and approaching fast. They were too high, too large, and too fast for birds and it didn't take long for Jimmy to realize what they were and why they were coming. "Oh no," he said.

End of Part 11.


	12. Part 12 A Boy and His Dog

Goddard, Come Home

by Gary D. Snyder

Part 12:

High above Retroville the sleek fighters approached the park at just under 500 knots. "Brass Hat, this is Sleepy Weasel," the lead pilot radioed. "We are approaching the target coordinates and should be over the area in 30 seconds."

"Roger that, Sleepy Weasel. Keep us advised of all developments."

"Roger, wilco." The pilot with the call sign Sleepy Weasel switched frequencies. "Stay frosty, Eeyore."

"Will do," came his wingman's glum voice in his headset. "But I doubt it will do any good."

Below in the park the five young people remained huddled behind the boulder. "What's going on, Jimmy?" asked Sheen.

"Apparently someone called the military and they sent out a couple reconnaissance fighters to check out the situation. This is not good." Jimmy looked almost frantic.Libby sounded worried at Jimmy' pronouncement. "What will they do?" Cindy looked uneasy as well, as buried memories of bad experience with jets stirred in her mind.

Jimmy tried to collect himself. "Well, they'll probably just do a flyby to check out the situation before actually firing any weapons. But I'm worried that Goddard will probably interpret their approach as an attack and fire on them. If that happens, they'll undoubtedly retaliate with whatever they have. Either they'll destroy Goddard…or Goddard will shoot them down….or Goddard will explode and take out most of Retroville." Jimmy looked around the boulder. "Oh my gosh! His lasers are powering up again! He's going to fire!"

"Do something, Neutron!" Cindy pleaded.

Jimmy shut his eyes tightly and clenched his fists. "Come on, Jimmy! Think! Think! THINK!"

__

I imprinted myself on his circuits when I first programmed him…

Gee Jimmy, try being a kid once in a while…

At first Goddard thought that 'Goddie' was his name…

"Brain blast!" Jimmy cried. He activated his hypercube and began frantically rummaging through the contents. "We packed everything so it's got to be here. It's got to be!" Suddenly he pounced on a small vial of colored liquid. "Aha!"

Carl looked baffled. "Isn't that the stuff you used to make me younger when I drank that other stuff that made me old and bald?"

"Exactly!" Jimmy popped off the top of the container and prepared to drink it. "Goddard didn't respond to me earlier because I'm not really Jimmy to him."

Even Cindy looked puzzled. "What?"

"The Jimmy he still trusts grew up a long time ago, but he doesn't remember it. I've got to go back to the same Jimmy he remembers. Then he'll let me get close enough to degauss him. I hope." He swallowed the contents of the vial and braced himself as the others stared in amazement. One moment the familiar form of Jimmy was standing before them, and the next a much younger and shorter boy was there. Without another word the boy turned and began running towards Goddard with the degaussing coil, calling in a high-pitched voice, "Goddie! Come, Goddie!"

At the sound of the voice Goddard turned from the fighters that were now nearly overhead and ominously regarded the young boy with his menacing red photoreceptors. From somewhere in his chest cavity a deep and threatening growl reverberated.

"Good Goddie. Come to Jim-Jam."

Inside of Goddard conflicting processes fought for control. The warnings of danger were stronger than ever, but he knew somehow that the danger was not from the person now in his targeting reticule. He whimpered uncertainly, unable to come to a decision.

Young Jimmy smiled invitingly. "Come, Goddie. Come to Jim-Jam."

Slowly the mad red glow faded from Goddard's photoreceptors. Something in the voice and form inspired trust and promised to take away the danger and the fear. Hesitantly Goddard took a step closer to Jimmy.

"Good Goddie. Goddie come to Jim-Jam." Jimmy knelt down and held out his arms. "Nice Goddie!"

Goddard took another step and his tail began to swing. Although he still sensed peril the voice was pushing the fear into the back of his cybernetic mind. His tongue lolled out and he whined hopefully, moving closer.

"Come to Jim-Jam, Goddie! Come to Jim-Jam!" There was no mistaking the love and affection in the voice. With a happy bark Goddard bounded forward into the small boy's arms, knocking him over and licking his face joyfully. Jimmy struggled to right himself, laughing merrily. "Good Goddie! Goddie came to Jim-Jam!"

Fighting his way to a sitting position he activated the degausser and passed it over Goddard's wriggling metal form. As the neutralizing field moved over him, repairing the damage to his failed power system, Goddard's feelings of danger faded. One by one his systems came back on line as power was restored to his dormant circuits, and the familiar glow of plasma streams illuminated his cranial dome. Jimmy hugged him tightly around the neck, squeezing his eyes closed to keep any tears from falling.

"Don't ever leave me again, Goddard," he whispered. "That's a direct order."

Goddard barked in acknowledgement, wondering what the fuss was all about.

High overhead the jets had completed their initial flyby and were making their report. "Brass Hat, this is Sleepy Weasel," the pilot transmitted. "We have completed our initial observation."

"Sleepy Weasel, this is Brass Hat. Report your findings, please."

Sleepy Weasel sounded puzzled and somewhat disappointed. "Brass Hat, there is a dog of some sort in the park, but it does not appear to be threatening in any way. It appears to be playing with a small boy." The pilot let out a sigh. "I'm sorry, general, but this appears to be just a wild goose chase…or dog chase, in this case."

"Roger that, Sleepy Weasel."

"Proceeding to secondary target, Brass Hat," radioed Sleepy Weasel as the two jets wheeled around in a great arc. "Now, did you want that album on CD or cassette?"

In the park Jimmy and Goddard were playing, with Goddard sometimes chasing Jimmy and sometimes the other way around. Their friends watched with a mixture of relief, amusement, wonder, and a trace of envy.

"Think Jimmy has enough of that formula left to make us that young again, Cindy?" Libby asked wistfully.

"He can always make some if he doesn't have any more," was Cindy's reply. "But it wouldn't really make us younger. Just our bodies."

"Well, I guess we should give him the antidote and make him officially 11 years old again," Sheen suggested, holding up another vial. He started towards Jimmy, but Cindy put her arm out to block him.

"Not just yet, Sheen." She smiled as she watched Jimmy and Goddard frolic playfully on the grass. "Give them another half hour or so. After all, you're only a kid once…twice."

End of Part 12.

Author's Notes:

"Long time" readers may recognize "Sleepy Weasel" as the pilot from "It's an Alternate Life". The name comes from the movie _Hot Shots!_ and while was the name of a military operation rather than a call sign, but I thought it was too good a name not to use.

Some readers may (and already have) objected to my making Jimmy only 11 rather than 12 years old, but I stand by that number. In "Hypno Birthday To You" Jimmy turns 18 after 7 (unofficial) birthdays so I feel that 11 is the right age to stand by (after all, I don't own Jimmy Neutron, although I wish I did). It's also an easier age to keep things a bit ambiguous and Jimmy and Cindy at each others' throats as much as in each others' arms.


	13. Epilog The End of a Tail

Goddard, Come Home

by Gary D. Snyder

Epilog:

After restoring Jimmy to normal and sending Goddard back home Cindy and the others returned to class. While the whole adventure had lasted about 90 minutes they were uncertain how to explain to Miss Fowl their failure to return following lunch period. As it turned out they didn't have to.

"So there you are, children," she clucked with some relief. "I was beginning to wo-o-nder whether you five had heard the news."

"News?" they all echoed.

"That the crisis is over," Miss Fowl squawked. "You were still at lunch when the school was evacuated because of some emergency in the park. We tried to call all the parents to let them know the students could come back but your parents didn't know where you had gotten to."

"Oh, that news," Cindy fudged.

"Yes, of course," added Jimmy.

"Absolutely," said Libby.

"You know it," Sheen concurred.

"What news?" asked Carl, while others glared at him. Sheen gave him a hard elbow in the ribs. "Ow! What?" Carl protested.

"I am curious," Miss Fowl continued, "as to where you went and what you were doing if you didn't go home."

Despite his quick mind Jimmy looked trapped. "Um…well…you see…" he fumbled.

"We were in Jimmy's clubhouse," Cindy spoke up quickly. "We were discussing our reports for next week."

"Oh?"

"Yes." Cindy gave Jimmy a quick look. "About Goddard…I think that maybe I was…" The next word came very hard. "…wrong…about Goddard not being a pet. I think that Jimmy should be permitted to do his report on Goddard."

Miss Fowl looked confused. "But you pointed out that Goddard is a machine."

Cindy answered rather slowly as she paced back and forth in front of the class. "Technically, yes, he's a machine. And I guess you can argue that he isn't a real dog. But so what? Neither is a cat, or a canary, or a snake. But people make pets of them. And they do it because it doesn't matter to them how their pet looks or whether it has fur or feathers or scales. What matters to them is how their pets make them feel.

"Because a pet isn't just property or something you only have to feed or bathe or clean up after once in a while. A pet is something you share a special bond with. Part of it is responsibility, but it's also love and trust and respect. A pet is a part of your life that nothing else can ever really replace. I don't know that I could ever become attached to a robot like Goddard, but I know that Jimmy is. Goddard is a real dog to him. And whether we think so or not, that's really what makes him a pet."

Cindy fell silent and Miss Fowl cleared her throat uncomfortably. "Well, I don't know…"

Cindy turned to the class. "How about it? Think about what you would do to help if your pet were in trouble. Is there anything that you would do for your pet that Jimmy wouldn't for Goddard?"

"She's got a point," said Nick.

"Yeah, I can believe that," replied Butch.

"So can I," added Nissa.

As the others added their agreement one by one Miss Fowl's expression slowly changed. When the last student had answered she adjusted her glasses. "Well, since the rest of you seem to feel that Goddard counts as a pet, I won't object. Jimmy, you can do your pet report on Goddard."

"Yes!" cried Jimmy, pumping his arm.

"And Carl and Sheen…?" Miss Fowl went on.

"Yes?" asked Sheen and Carl eagerly.

"No plush toys, action figures, or dolls."

"Oh, man," grumbled Sheen as he took his seat.

"Tell me about it," mumbled Carl.

"I guess that's another one I owe you," remarked Jimmy to Cindy as they took their seats. "But why?"

"Well, you know the old saying, Neutron," Cindy replied with a mischievous twinkle in her green eyes. "Every dog has his day."

THE END

Author's Notes:

In 1985, long before _AI_ or _Bicentennial Man_, there was a movie called _D.A.R.Y.L._ about a young boy who doesn't know that he's a military project (specifically a Data Analyzing Robotic Youth Lifeform). When the military decides to cancel the project two scientists conspire to help Daryl escape before he can be destroyed with the rest of the project files. The project's military liason officer learns of the conspiracy and demands to know why all the project scientists have acted so irrationally about a machine. The addressed scientist simply replies, "A machine becomes a boy when you can't tell the difference anymore." The same, I think, is also true for dogs.


End file.
